Praise for Letting Go of the Words
Short of having Ginny sitting at your desk helping you think about your site, I can think of nothing better than having this book. The table of contents alone offers detailed guidance for readers, making this book an active resource for day-to-day use one of my key criteria for a usable book. The wealth of examples makes it easy to see how to apply concepts to your particular situation.
Duane Degler
Principal, Design for Context
I have been using Ginnys book to teach my Writing for the Web course for the past three years. Students love it because the guidelines in each chapter are straightforward and are well supported by skillfully selected examples. With the addition of various cases and new and updated visual aids in the most recent edition, the book is a valuable teaching resource that helps me organize productive classroom discussions and develop individual and collaborative projects.
Natalia Matveeva, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Professional Writing, University of Houston Downtown
Ginnys first edition has been right at the top of my most valuable books about web sites list, and I refer to it constantly. Its an excellent resource for anyone planning to create, revise, critique, or contribute to a web site. It looks at all aspects of what makes web sites clear and easy to use. The book itself is a model of good writing and presentation clear and concise, beautifully formatted, showing as well as telling how to write for the Web. I look forward eagerly to the second edition.
Penny Lane
the Center for Health Literacy at MAXIMUS
People come to my online writing teams from many different backgrounds. Letting Go of the Words has been an indispensible resource for making sure everyone is level set with the basic principles and best practices for online communication. Whether you are writing for a web site, portal, app, blog, or online learning course, you will find tips here that will help you reach your target audience with just the right number of compelling, useful words.
Chris Frederick Willis
CEO, Media 1
As an experienced technical writer and trainer, I have relied on Ginnys expertise for years. She is an outstanding and pertinent instructor and mentor who shines above all others. I refer other writers to this book and to Ginnys classes. Without fail, she gets rave reviews. I highly recommend Letting Go of the Words, which continues to be a most valuable resource in my professional library.
Katey Simetra
Technical writer and trainer for 25 years with Washington state government
My grad students and I love this book. It has given us the key that unlocks the mystery of how to write content for the web: engage in conversation with your user. And with an engaging, conversational style, Ginny Redish makes this not only a must-read but an easy, delightful read. A great book for getting started in web writing or for rethinking how to do it from the users point of view.
Carol Barnum, Ph.D.
Director of Graduate Studies, Information Design and Communication programs and Director of the Usability Center, Southern Polytechnic State University, Author of Usability Testing Essentials: Ready, Set Test!
If you want to take your web content to the next level, you need this book. If youre an experienced writer, youll find tips, hints, and ideas that will help you refocus and improve your writing, and convince your colleagues and clients. If youre new to writing for the web, Ginny will teach you, guide you, and give you confidence that you can create great user experiences by improving your web content. Invaluable.
Caroline Jarrett
Effortmark Ltd, Co-author of Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability
Acquisitions Editor: Meg Dunkerley
Editorial Project Manager: Heather Scherer
Production Project Manager: Jessica Vaughan
Designer: Eric DeCicco
Morgan Kaufmann is an imprint of Elsevier
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2012 Redish & Associates, Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Notices
Designations that companies use to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks. All product and service names shown in this book are used only to comment on the screens in which they appear, with no intent to infringe on the trademark. No use of any trademark or trade name is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Redish, Janice.
Letting go of the words : writing web content that works / Janice (Ginny) Redish. 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Learn how to have great conversations through your site or app. Meet your business goals while satisfying your site visitors needs. Learn how to create useful and usable content from the master Ginny Redish. Ginnys easy-to-read style will teach you how to plan, organize, write, design, and test your content Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978-0-12-385930-3 (pbk.)
1. Web site development. 2. Web sites Design. 3. Online authorship. I. Title.
TK5105.888.R427 2012
006.7dc23
2012010668
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
For information on all MK publications visit our website at www.mkp.com
ISBN: 978-0-12-385930-3
Printed in the United States of America
12 13 14 15 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Edward F. Redish, who has always been called Joe, with love and deep appreciation
Foreword
For the past five years, every time Ive given a talk about usability Ive had a slide near the end to remind me to recommend Letting Go of the Words.
Heres what I say when I get to it:
This is probably one of the best pieces of advice I can give you:
If you know anyone who writes or edits for the Web, they